BATTERSEA POWER STATION WINS BEST COMMERCIAL MIXED-USE

Battersea Power Station has been awarded a major architectural accolade last month, winning the Best Commercial Mixed-Use Future Project award at the 10th Annual World Architecture Festival 2017. WilkinsonEyre, the global architecture practice designing the restoration and refurbishment of the Grade II* Listed icon, attended the ceremony in Berlin to collect the prestigious award.

Battersea Power Station was competing against projects in China, Qatar, Mexico, Lebanon, Iran, Australia, Brazil, Italy and Saudi Arabia for this acclaimed title. The award recognises the scale and complexity of the project and the design processes involved in transforming one of the largest brick buildings in Europe into a new destination for London that will, on completion, provide new offices, shops, restaurants, homes and event spaces.

WilkinsonEyre’s plans are consistent with – and sympathetic to – the original designs by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, its original architect as well as the creator of the iconic red telephone box and Liverpool Cathedral. The designs retain the sense of scale and visual drama within the building through innovative features such as a full-height glass void behind the southern wall, a vast central atrium and open, unobstructed turbine halls.

Simon Jenner, COO of Battersea Power Station Development Company, said: “Battersea Power Station is one of the most culturally iconic buildings in the world. It lay empty for so many years while plans for its future came and went. Decades after it was decommissioned, achieving this award from the World Architecture Festival for its successful restoration is a fantastic accolade and one that celebrates the fact that this building is finally coming back to life. With many challenges along the way we are working towards a successful completion and looking forward to providing a truly unique mixed-use asset.”

Sebastien Ricard, Director at WilkinsonEyre and lead architect for Battersea Power Station, collected the award and said: “It is a huge honour to win this award for Battersea Power Station, one of the world’s most prominent buildings and a focus of global attention. Battersea Power Station demands highly skilled expertise across a variety of architectural disciplines, at which WilkinsonEyre excel.”

The restoration of the Power Station recently reached a major milestone when the rebuild of the four iconic chimneys was completed. They were rebuilt using the exact same building techniques and paint colours as the original chimneys. Celebrating their return, the northern chimneys will be illuminated every evening.

The wider regeneration of Battersea Power Station also continues to gain momentum with the first phase, Circus West Village, nearing completion. Residents have moved in and the first restaurants and shops have opened, along with The Village Hall, a community arts and events venue situated in a formerly disused railway arch. The Battersea Power Station Design Store has also recently opened paying homage to the iconic building.

The Malaysian shareholders of the Battersea Power Station project are committed to giving back to the communities in which they operate. They recognise the importance of creating shared value and this is embedded in all their undertakings to ensure that they contribute to building a harmonious and caring community.

Follow @batterseapwrstn for the latest news and updates from Battersea Power Station and visit batterseapowerstation.co.uk for more information.

Battersea Power Station is one of central London’s largest, most visionary and eagerly anticipated new town centres in which roughly half the development will comprise shops, restaurants and office space. In addition, there will be a six-acre public park, a town square and a new tube station (scheduled to be within Zone 1).

The Battersea Power Station project covers 42 acres and includes 3.5m sq ft of mixed commercial space, together with 4,364 new homes.

The successful regeneration of Battersea Power Station will create 20,000 new jobs, inject £20bn into the UK economy and create a funding mechanism for the first major tube line extension since the Millennium. A new NHS medical facility is also being built.

The Battersea Power Station Foundation supports local charities and community projects. Over £3.3m has been awarded since it launched in 2016; on average, £207,000 is granted per month and the largest grant awarded was to Battersea Arts Centre for £305,000.

Circus West Village is the neighbourhood centre for the first part of the development. It opened to the public in Spring 2017 and since then more than 350,000 people have visited to enjoy the ongoing programme of events and the new shops and restaurants.

Residents started to move in to Circus West early in 2017 and continue to do so. The Village Hall, a new performance space, has opened at Circus West Village and a new MBNA Thames Clippers River Bus service commenced on 1 November 2017.

The Battersea Academy of Skills Excellence (BASE), the development company’s bespoke jobs and training service created for those living locally, was launched in 2016. It is focused on matching people with jobs at Battersea as well as providing training relevant to the job pipeline at the development.

Battersea Power Station is owned by a consortium of Malaysian investors comprised of Sime Darby Property, S P Setia and the Employees’ Provident Fund. Management of the development is being undertaken by the British-based Battersea Power Station Development Company.

WikinsonEyre:

WilkinsonEyre, twice winners of both the prestigious RIBA Stirling Prize and the RIBA Lubetkin Prize, is one of the world's leading architecture practices. Its portfolio of bold, beautiful, intelligent architecture includes the Guangzhou International Finance Center, one of the tallest buildings in the world; the giant cooled conservatories for Gardens by the Bay in Singapore and the multi award winning Weston Library for the University of Oxford.